Chickens scared to death by balloons

[Melbourne12]

Free range chickens at a farm in Herefordshire were "scared to death" by the noise of hot air balloons flying overhead, their owner has claimed.

Story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/7710540.stm

How extraordinary!  I can understand hens being sent into a panic by a fox or other predator.  Do they get scared by other noisy objects, like helicopters, say?

[Melbourne12]

[betula]

I am sure any abnormal loud noise would distress them.

I am glad the company has changed their route,a pat on the back to them
for their unselfish act. :)

[Tulipa]

I love the terminology in the article, it will be much more a case of not flying when the wind is in a certain direction, or taking off from a different launch site.  Balloons can't change their flight path very much as they go where the wind takes them.

Hopefully the chicken owner has contacted their local NFU rep who can arrange for them to appear on all the balloonists' maps as needing care.  Lots of animals are scared of balloons, sometimes just the shape or shadow of a balloon can be enough to scare them but as long as they are marked on a pilot's map they can go over them much higher and with their quiet burner on.  Pigs, horses, pheasants etc can all be scared.

I have friends who are balloonists which is how I know all this, but I am scared of heights. :-[

T.

[manicscousers]

our chickens were scared stiff when Matthew sneezed,they all ran back into the hen house.. mind you, they had only been out of the battery for a week  ;D

[Barnowl]

Probably scared they might catch bird flu.....

[manicscousers]

 ;D ;D ;D

[Solorn]

I spent an hour sitting on damp ground with terrified chickens last night. Fireworks are just too much for them.

[jonny211]

Is it something to do with ariel predators that gets them going? Mine are terrified of the umbrella and the clucking state that they got in when I hung my coat on top of the run one day was unbelievable!

Jon